toptop
Papiss
Cisse produced a brilliant brace to keep alive Newcastle's hopes of
finishing fourth with a 2-0 win at Chelsea.
The Senegal striker stunned Stamford Bridge inside 20 minutes when he
collected a pass from Davide Santon, flicking it up with his right foot and
blasting the ball past Petr Cech with his left.
But that was nothing compared to what he had in store for the Chelsea keeper
with his second.
Newcastle appeared to be playing the game out during stoppage time when, out
on the left flank, Cisse cut across a ball with his right foot and sent a
swerving shot flying over Cech and into the net.
In between the two strikes, Chelsea pushed and probed for an equaliser, with
Santon clearing off the line from John Terry, but the home side lacked
Cisse's spectacular cutting edge.
And the win keeps Alan Pardew's side level on points with fourth-place
Tottenham with two games to play.
Chelsea are now four points behind and will surely need to beat Bayern
Munich on May 19 if they are to play Champions League football next season.
Cisse's second goal came in 10 minutes of second-half stoppage-time added
for a sickening head injury to Cheik Tiote, the only sour note for the
visitors after an impressive night's work.
Bright
It all looked so bright for Chelsea early on. Fernando Torres looked in the
mood to add to his first Blues hat-trick, although this time he failed to
round the goalkeeper after being found by Raul Meireles' long ball.
The striker then bamboozled Tiote into an early booking before the Newcastle
midfielder then left Ramires in some pain after accidentally kicking him in
the hand.
Torres soon switched to assist mode, with Daniel Sturridge failing to
connect with his low cross but that was as close as they went before the
visitors got a grip.
And after Demba Ba hooked over under pressure, they struck in stunning
fashion in the 19th minute.
Santon and Cisse were both given too much space but the latter still needed
just one touch to control the full-back's pass before volleying left-footed
into the top corner.
A disjointed Chelsea took almost 20 minutes to muster a response as the
absence of Frank Lampard and Juan Mata began to show.
When they finally did, they should have equalised, Florent Malouda heading
Torres' brilliant cross wide and Branislav Ivanovic nodding Raul Meireles'
corner over under pressure.
But they were lucky not to go into the break two down when Ba forced a
scrambling save from Cech and then drilled against the crossbar after
Chelsea failed to deal with a corner.
Di Matteo wasted no time sending on Mata at the restart, with Sturridge
withdrawn, something that almost had an instant impact when Tiote blocked
Meireles' drive after more good work from Torres.
Lack of precision
But the lack of precision in Chelsea's passing continued and they quickly
resorted to trying their luck from set-pieces when Ramires went down very
easily under Cabaye's challenge, earning the latter a booking.
Both teams were given the benefit of the doubt on the hour mark when Tiote's
flailing arm caught the face of John Obi Mikel, who then led with his elbow
in an aerial challenge with his fellow midfielder.
Tiote stayed down and it took around seven minutes to treat him and carry
him off on a stretcher and in an oxygen mask with what looked a serious head
injury.
Ryan Taylor came on, with Chelsea having already introduced Didier Drogba
for Malouda, and tempers began to flare when Ba took exception an Ivanovic
challenge from behind.
Newcastle were in danger of losing their composure and Ba was quickly
withdrawn for Shola Ameobi, before Di Matteo threw on Lampard for Meireles
in the 78th minute.
Chelsea's attacks became increasingly desperate and Lampard flashed wide
from distance, while Fabricio Coloccini went close to glancing Drogba's
cross into his own net.
Newcastle withdrew Hatem Ben Arfa for Gabriel Obertan and they had Santon to
thank for preserving their lead when he cleared John Terry's 88th-minute
header off the line.
Krul was booked for time-wasting but he need not have worried as Cisse
sealed the win in the most outrageous fashion.
Click Here For Official Team Sheet
Chelsea
Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic,
Terry, Bertrand, Ramires, Mikel,
Meireles (Lampard 78), Sturridge (Mata 46), Torres, Malouda (Drogba 60)
Subs Not Used
Turnbull, Cole, Essien, Kalou
Booked
Goals
Newcastle United
Krul, Perch,
Williamson, Colloccini, Santon, Cabaye, Tiote (Taylor 63), Gutierrez,
Ben Arfa (Obertan 87), Cisse, Ba (Ameobi 74)
Subs Not Used
Elliot, Gosling, Marveaux, Ferguson
Booked Tiote, Cabaye, Krul
Goals Cisse 19, 90
Attendance
41,559
Referee
M.
Halsey